1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a hand tool and, more particularly, to a hand tool including pivotally connected handle and shank.
2. Related Prior Art
As disclosed in Taiwanese Patent Publication No. 232864, a conventional hand tool includes a handle 10, a detent 20 located in the handle 10 movably, a spring 25 for biasing the detent 20, a shank 30 connected to the handle 10 pivotally, and a bit 40 connected to the shank 30 detachably. The handle 10 includes a gap 11 defined between two ears 12 extending from an end. The detent 20 includes an enlarged portion 23 formed thereon. The spring 25 is compressed between a portion of the handle 10 and the enlarged portion of the detent 20 for retaining the detent 20 in a locking position. The shank 30 includes a semicircular portion 33 formed thereon and a semicircular ridge 34 extending on the semicircular portion 33. There are recesses 35 defined in the semicircular ridge 34. In the locking position, the enlarged portion 23 of the detent 20 is located in a selected one of the recesses 35, thus retaining the shank 30 at a selected one of several angles relative to the handle 10. The detent 20 is movable to a releasing position wherein the enlarged portion 23 of the detent 20 is located out of the recesses 35, thus allowing the pivotal of the shank 30 relative to the handle 10. There are problems with the use of the conventional hand tool. At first, it takes quite some time for a user to set the shank 30 in a desired angle relative to the handle 10 since there are too many angles corresponding to the recesses 35 and some of them are redundant. Secondly, the user might get hurt by tooth-like portions of the semicircular ridge 34 between the recesses 35 since the semicircular ridge 34 extends from the circular portion 33 of the shank 30.
The present invention is therefore intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in prior art.